Tribulation House

No one knows the day or the hour of Christ's return -- except the most Reverend Daniel Glory and his loyal parishioners. Or, at least, so they think.

Tribulation House by Chris Well focuses on the spiritual journey of one naïve soul named Mark Hogan, who thinks that since the Rapture is coming very soon, he might as well enjoy his remaining days with moments of full pleasure. As such, he borrows vast amounts of money from the Mob and spends everything on material possessions and good times, feeling positive that he will never have to worry about paying it back once he has been raptured. However, when Rev. Glory and his followers are exposed as frauds and the predicted date of the Rapture doesn't come off, Mark realizes his life may be over in another way. Gulp! If the loan sharks find him, they will skin him alive!

The good news is that this is a clever idea for a plot, but the bad news is, it fails on many fronts. First, the book cannot make up its mind if it wants to be a straight comedy or more of a serious redemption tale and, thus, it confuses the reader. Second, the dialogue is often wooden and forced, making the characters worse than bad stereotypes. Both the gangsters and the charlatan preachers come off as flat caricatures rather than three-dimensional individuals. This book isn't funny enough to be a farcical romp, and there isn't enough of a mystery to make it a good thriller. It falls between the cracks...where it probably should stay. – Elizabeth Goldsmith, Christian Book Previews.com

Book Jacket:

IT’S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD—WHICH COULD BE A PROBLEM...

Mark Hogan has it all. The job. The family. A position on the board at church. All he’s missing is a boat. Not just any boat—a 2008 Bayliner 192.

When Reverend Daniel Glory announces that the Rapture is taking place on October 17 at 5:51am, Hogan realizes his boat–buying days are numbered. So he does what any man in his situation would do—he borrows a load of money from the mob.

Not that there’s any risk involved: After all, when the Rapture comes, Hogan will be long gone. The mob will never find him.

But when Jesus fails to come back on schedule, Mark Hogan finds the mob is in no mood to discuss the finer points of end–times theology...